Lily's Driving and Daisy's Cruising

After running errands all day Lily was grumpy and wanted to stay in the car when we got home. So, I unloaded Daisy and took her inside and upon returning to pry Lily out of the car I found this. Good thing I did not leave the keys in the ignition, that is all I have to say. She has been watching me WAY too closely!
Meanwhile, Daisy achieved her next milestone...crawling!!After 2 days of wiggling and inch worming forward and backward she has magically over-night transformed into a speedster, and is into EVERYTHING! Here she is wreaking havoc upon Lily's picnic on the kitchen floor. I am now officially paranoid about all of Lily's little knick-knack toys laying around as choking hazards. The fun has only just begun!"Innocent little angel."

"Butterfly Town, USA"...

...is what our little town is nicknamed. Every first Saturday in October we have a Butterfly parade to welcome the Monarch Butterflies for the winter. They migrate here from as far north as Canada and stay until about March. For the first time in 5 years we actually visited the Butterfly Sanctuary which is only 5 minutes away. We go to the parade every year but for some reason never took advantage of this incredible phenomenon until today. Dang, we have been missing out!

Here are the Pine and Eucalyptus trees that the butterfly clusters are found in. Look closely... They appear to be leaves until you look through binoculars and realize... those leaves are fluttering butterfly wings! Once again my camera doesn't do the local wildlife justice but it was amazing to see so many in one place!

Lily, Sean and Daisy who is geared up to watch the BYU vs. UofU game, don't ask who won. :(
Lily took this photo. She loves taking pictures!

And that was our little, long over due trip to the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary.

Poppas and Panda...

...also known as Mike and Randa (Sean's dad and step-mom) came to visit us from Seattle last week. They stayed the first night at the Seven Gables Inn which was so fun because I walk
by it all the time and have never been inside. It was gorgeous. Thanks guys for giving us an excuse to check out the place. We had milk and cookies in the Victorian sitting room and Lily ate all of the Dove chocolates which I am sure left some guest pillows chocolate-less that night.

The next two nights they stayed at the Exclusive Conroy Condo, sorry about the downgrade guys! Who doesn't love hearing a baby cry 4 times a night, sharing a tiny bathroom, AND a clogged sink? Welcome to my world. It was true bonding time. Mike and Randa you are such good sports!

It didn't take long for Lily to hop into their arms and Daisy to keep trying to figure out what the heck was going on.

While Sean was at work we took the girls to a great kid spot in town called My Museum.

I think Sean got his sense of humor from his dad. (No offense Mike).

There is a network of pipes and cranks that send balls over to this maual release. Lily loves this thing.

This little theater has a backstage with costumes galore and mirrors to get ready. Then on stage it has buttons for sound effects and a TV so they can see themselves. So cool.

The Princess, the Parrot and the Poppas...coming soon to a theater near you!

That night, of course, was magic bag, a tradition with the grand kids that originated when Sean was a little boy. Kung Fu Panda was a result of the magic.

On Friday morning Sean took work off, Lily ditched preschool and Poppas and Panda treated us to a local attraction ... a whale watch! Sean and I tried to take advantage of one when we first moved here but it ended up being a 3 hour tour and no whales. We see spouts/sprays from shore all of the time, but there is something about being out on the water with them that is just so magical and surreal. So, we gave it another try.This was out on Fisherman's Wharf waiting to get on the trusty "Caroline".We start heading out in to the harbor and the captain says "we have a real treat today!" Before we even got out of the harbor a RARELY seen blue whale was spotted feeding in shallow water. SOOOO COOL! I caught it going under with the video camera and Sean got this one shot of it's back.

Behold, the biggest animal in the world! I know, this doesn't do it justice.

This is what we would be seeing if we were under the water...Ahhh, if only!

So this guy went down for a few minutes and reappeared right next to our boat. You could hear, feel and smell (ewww) the spray as it came up for a breath!! Talk about halitosis! Of course I was trying to put Lily's sweatshirt on and missed it on video. Dang those motherly instincts! :)

Mission accomplished after a whole 5 minutes on the boat. We could have gone home happy! The captain then headed north up to Moss Landing where the two mile deep Monterey Canyon begins in Monterey Bay. A lot of critters congregate here to feed in these nutrient-rich waters.
It took about an hour to get there and the water was SUPER choppy. Lily kept complaining about her tummy and soon thereafter lost her sprinkle donut she had for breakfast. She then fell asleep(she is on the bench next to me). Sean soon handed Daisy over to me with a ghost white face and followed suit with his maple bar. I did get a little queezy but wanted to keep that healthy breakfast inside me. After all, think of the rep a wannabe marine biologist would get if she threw up on a whale watch. Daisy, Poppas, and Panda amazingly had stomach's of steel!

Here we are inside the cabin feeling the motion of the ocean.
The sea sickness was worth it! I don't have the pictures to prove it but I have amazing video footage of two humpback whales that lingered around our boat for at least 10-15 minutes. I even captured the classic tail fin coming out of the water. Sean watched from the cabin and we didn't have the heart to wake poor Lily. She did already see one and could watch the video. Of course, I have no idea how to post a video on my blog. In fact I am looking at my video camera right now thinking none of the computer cords will fit into this thing. Dang I need to learn how to do that.

Needless to say, it was an adventure to never be forgotten! The evening was completed with Madagascar 2 at our little local theater and Papa John's Pizza (my fav!)

Here are us girls the following day saying good bye. Thanks for the memories!

Visitors

Aunt Jill (Sean's Mom's sister) and Uncle Randy came to visit us on Sat./Sun. from Idaho. It was so wonderful to see, hug, and talk with them! They have 8 kids and 10 grandkids and take the time to come check on us! I am still not quite 100% healthy and so I wasn't the hostess I wanted to be but I know they understood. Daisy wouldn't stop staring at Uncle Randy and Lily affectionately called him "that man" .
Lily enjoyed snuggling with Aunt Jill. I feel there is a closeness there that Grandma Pat would be proud of. Aunt Jill reminds us a lot of her. Thanks for coming to see us!!

HOORAY!

It was a close, nail-biting race but the definition of traditional marriage has been restored in California!!!!

YES= 52%

NO= 48%

I LOVE this man!

Bleaching the bathroom and bathing the kids.

Sean is always a wonderful, helpful father and husband but when I am sick he turns into Super Sean! Dirty bath tubs, kids, and laundry WATCH OUT!

Just when I thought I was invincible, pneumonia and pleurisy set in.

I avoid going to the doctor unless it is absolutely necessary. There have been too many times I have been charged an arm, leg and a foot for "get tons of rest, drink tons of fluid's, and take some Tylenol." Well...now I know... if you ever have a mean cough for more than two weeks, GO TO THE DOCTOR before it gets worse!

Last Saturday the left side of my chest started to hurt a little bit when I took deep breaths or when I would cough. I didn't think too much of it until it started to hurt more and more in a short amount of time. When I finally humbled myself and accepted the fact I really did need help. There was no way I could wait until Monday to see a doctor, the sharp pain was almost unbearable. So, Sunday night Sean stayed home with the girls and I drove myself to the ER taking little short breaths and trying not to cough. After waiting for two hours with a respiratory mask on and cringing and tearing up with every cough, I was finally seen by a doctor. She said that sure enough there was fluid in my lungs and pleurisy was causing the pain. According to Wikipedia,

"Pleurisy, also known as pleuritis, is an inflammation of the pleura, the lining of the pleural cavity surrounding the lungs. Pleurisy can cause extremely painful respiration (also called pleuritic chest pain) and other signs and symptoms, some of which may remain long after the pleurisy has gone away."

Oh, joy! So, the ER doc put me on an alternative antibiotic because I am nursing and said if it doesn't work in a few days to go back to the doctor. Thanks a lot. At least I did get some pain relievers.

Anyway, I didn't mean to drag all of that out, I really wanted to focus on the amazing people who found out I was sick and didn't hesitate to come through with food, watching kids, flowers, and simply offering their help and concern. The meals continue to come in and are soooo delicious, thank you everyone!

Homemade chicken potato soup complete with biscuits, flowers, and card from Mark and Rochel.

Lily getting in on the action with watermelon, pepperoni and squash soup made especially for me. Yummy!

Homemade chicken noodle (with homemade noodles), fresh baked bread and fresh jam a la Debi.

Kristine brought over chicken fajitas from Micheal's Taqueria. Mmm!

Fresh picked lilies from Shauna B.
I failed to mention that my spectacular mother flew in from New Mexico today to help watch the kids while I recover.

Last time she saw Daisy was in July.

Being the reading teacher that she is, Grandma muffin (affectionately called because my Dad was coined "Punkin" by the first grandchild and my mom wanted a "cute" name too) always brings a bag of books that Lily looks forward to. It was such a beautiful day they decided to read outside. Just when I start to think I can take care of everything on my own, something like this happens. Thank goodness for a caring husband, family and friends! And now time to rest.